Carpenter s rule



New W. E. IGEEENE.

GARPENTERS RULE.

Nol 325,533. Patent'edSvept. 1,' 1885.

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* iJNiTnD STATES Parent @risica W'ILLI AM H. GREENE, OF LOW'ELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

CARPENTERS RULE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 325,533, dated September l, 1885.

i Application filed October 4,*1884. (Model.)

'' 0 if/ZZ whom t may, concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. GREENE,

. a citizen of the United States,residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Carpenters Rules, of which the following'is a specication.

My invention relates to carpenters7 rules; and it consists in devices and combinations, hereinafter described and claimed, wherein such rules are made to serve (in addition to their ordinary purposes) as gages, squares, and bevels.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is anisonietrie view ofinyiniproved folding rule, a part of one of the legs being broken off and the remaining part being turned vat right angles to the other leg to form a square; Fig. 2, an isometric View of said rule, the legs being folded or closed, and one leg being moved along on the other to form a-gage. Figs. 3 and 4 are partly sections on the line Y Y in Fig. 5, but the grooved leg and the plates are shown in elevation, the legs being locked in position in Fig.`3 and unlocked in Fig. 4;,Fig. 5, a section on the line X X in Fig. l; Fig. 6, an isos metric .View of the binder detachedyFig. 7, an

isometric view of the wedge detached.

` 4The legs AA2 of the rule A are of the usual construction, except that one of them, A2, is provided, preferably on each side, with alongitudinal groove, e', ruiming nearly from end to end thereof, and the other is cut away at a to admit the head b of the wedge B when the legs are folded together.

The legs A A2 of the rule are marked in the usual manner with divisions of inches and fractions of inches.

The joint C is peculiar. The usual pieces, c e, which form in effect a slot at the end of one leg, (into which slot the end of the other leg is inserted in the ordinary rule-joint,) being retained, but placed (and secured by the usual rivets) en the faces of the leg A', instead of being flush therewith. Said pieces c e are thicker than usual, and have circular cavities c c' on their inner faces, concentric with the circular ears c2 c2 on said pieces c c. Within these circular cavities are placed, on each side of the leg A2, thin or sheet-metal plates D D,

`in form segments of circles, the straight edges of which are turned inward at d' d, at right 4 angles along a line parallel with the cords of such segments and enter the longitudinal grooves c a. Y

A wedge, B, as wide as the thickness of the leg A2 and the plates D D combined, (except at bb, where it is notched or provided, with a heele) is placed iiatwise against the inner edge or" theleg A2, the side edges of the body of the wedgey being within said cavities c' c', and the-necksb b of the wedge filling the space between the thick edges of the ears c2 c2. The neck of the wedge is long enough to allow the body of the wedge to move endwise within said cavities c c. The thick end or headb of the wedge has a crossrib, b2, on

.the side away from the leg A, by which the wedge may be moved slightly by thumb-nail against said rib.

Between the pieces c c, on the other face of the wedge from the leg A2, is a binder, F, which may be a segment of a short solid cylplacing the inder, but is preferably-a steel spring bent as shown, having a straight fiat side, f, which' presses against the wedge B, and a curved side, f', of the same radius as the outer curved surface of the ears c2 ci, except that the edges Aof the curved part of said spring are reduced at f 2 to enter and iit the circular cavities c' c', and to form shoulders f 3 at the saine distance from each other as the ears cL c2, and which restagainst said ears.

The ends of the spring F, when the saine is not compressed, do not touch each other, there being a small space at f* between them. /Vhen the wedge B is crowded inte the joint, as shown on Fig. 3, the spring or binder F is compressed, bringing its ends in contact, closing the space f4, and pressing the curved surfaces of the binder F and of the plates D D outward, and so rml y against the curved inner walls of the cavities c' c that said binder and plates will be prevented from turning in said cavities by friction, and thereby prevent the legs of the rule from turning on thejoint C.

Vhen the wedge is loosenedthat is, drawn to the position shown in Fig. 4-the legs may easily be opened or closed, the ears turning with the leg A (to which they are secured, as above stated) and the plates D D, the wedge B and binder F turning with the leg A2. It will be seen, also, that when the wedge IOO a azas is loosened the plates D D may be -moved along onthe leg A", the bent edges of said plates D D sliding in said grooves c a', but that when the Wedge is in the position shown in Fig. 3 the part of the leg A2 between the grooves a and the wedge B will be pinched between said wedge and the turned-down parts d d of the plates D D, and the legs cannot slide on each other.

When the leg A is moved along on the leg A2. for some distance and is then turned or opened until the joint end of said leg strikes the inner edge of the leg A2, as shown in Fig. 1, the two legs will be at right angles to each other, and, after locking them by pushing in the Wedge, the rule may be used as a square.

In the same way the legs may be turned oropened to any smaller angle and there fastcned, when the rule may be used as a bevel.

vWhen the rule is closed, the depth of a mortise or hole may be measured by resting the end of the grooved leg on the surface of the timber at the edge of such mortise or hole and moving the other leg along on said grooved leg, as shown in Fig. 2, until the grooved leg A touches the bottom of said hole. In the same way one may measure the thickness of a molding, the height of a step or stair, or the like, allowing in each case the free end of the leg Al to project beyond the free end of the grooved leg A2.

When the legs are in the position shown in Fig. 2,a pencil may be placed at the free end of the leg A', and a line may be drawn parallel to the edge of a board by allowing the free end of the leg A2 to be in contact with the edge of such board while such line is being drawn.;

The width of an opening may be measured by setting the square part of the joint end of l the leg A2 against one side of said opening and then sliding the leg A until the free end of said leg A touches the other sidcofthe opening.`

I claim as my invention l. The combination of a leg, plates secured thereto havingearsprovided with circular-cavi ties concentric therewith, another leg, and plates adapted to enter said cavities and to turn' therein and to engage with and slide upon said Y for the purpose speci- 3. The combinationof a leg, plates secured thereto having earsprovided with circular cavities concentric therewith ,another leg, seg-mental plates adapted to enter sa'idcavitiesand turn l therein and to engage with and slide upon 'said last-named leg, the segmental binder placed within the said cavities, and the wedge placed between said binder and said segmental plates and adapted to be crowded between said binder and saidisegmental plates and to prevent said legs from turning on each other, as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination of a leg, plates secured theretohaving earsprovided with circular cavi-` al plates adapted to enter said cavities and turn Y ties concentric therewith, another leg, segmenfti therein and to engage with and slide uponsaid last-named leg, the binder, its edges entering said cavities and provided with a springand the wedge placed between said binder and 'said segmental plates and adapted to be crowded between said binder and said segmental plates and to prevent said legs from turning on each other, as and for the purpose specified.

6. A rule having legs united at their 'ends by a joint and adapted to slide and turn one upon the other in the same plane, as and for the purpose specified.

WILLIAM H.

Witnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE, HERBERT R. VHITE. 

